Toy having flexible track

ABSTRACT

PERMIT IT TO BE TWISTED AND BANKED AND ELEVATED AND DEPRESSED WITHOUT THE RAILS BECOMMING SEPARATED FROM THE CONNECTING SECTION AND SUCH THAT THE TRACK WILL REMAIN IN THE POSITION IN WHICH THE USER HAS ARRANGED IT. THE TRACK RAIL IS SPECIALLY MADE TO PINCH AND FRICTIONALLY ENGAGE AN EDGE OF THE CONNECTING SECTION OF THE TRACK. THIS INVENTION RELATES TO A TOY OF THE CLASS WHICH INCORPORATES A BALL AND A TRACK ALONG WHICH THE BALL IS MOVED. ONE EMBODIMENT IS DESCRIBED IN THE SPECIFICATION AND SHOWN IN THE DRAWING. THE TWO TRACK RAILS ARE SEPARATING FROM AN INTERCONNECTING SECTION AND IN THE OTHER THE TRACK RAILS AND INTERCONNECTING SECTION ARE INTEGRALLY FORMED. THE BALL HAS A DIAMETER RELATIVE TO TRACK SPACING SO THAT THE BALL CONTACTS ONLY THE RAILS AND NOT THE CONNECTING SECTION AS IT PROCEEDS ALONG THE TRACK. THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE TRACK MATERIAL

United States Patent [72] Inventor Wesley W. Ashton 18121 Fourth StreetSanta Ana, Calif. 92680 [21] Appl. No. 763,093 [22] Filed Sept. 27, 1968[4S] Patented June 28, 1971 [54] TOY HAVING FLEXIBLE TRACK 3 Claims, 4Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl ..46/43, 46/1, 238/10 [51] Int. Cl A63h 33/00 [50] FieldofSearch 46/43, 1 (K), 202, 216; 238/10, 10(8), 10(C), 10(D) [56]References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,028,401 1/1936 Lore 238/102,153,625 4/1936 Jones 238/10 2,862,333 12/1958 Gardiol 46/43(X)3,394,489 7/1968 Martin Primary Examiner-F. Barry Shay Attorney-Nienowand Frater One embodiment is described in the specification and shown inthe drawing. The two track rails are separable from an interconnectingsection and in the other the track rails and interconnecting section areintegrally formed. The ball has a diameter relative to track spacing sothat the ball contacts only the rails and not the connecting section asit proceeds along the track. The physical properties of the trackmaterial permit it to be twisted and banked and elevated and depressedwithout the rails becoming separated from the connecting section andsuch that the track will remain in the position in which the user hasarranged it. The track rail is specially made to pinch and frictionallyengage an edge of the connecting section of the track.

. l TOY rrsvrsc FLEXIBLE TRACK track.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved ball and toytrack for children. It is entirely possible for a toy to be educationalin the sense that it aids in developing manual skills, imagination,creativity, and sometimes all of these, and to be entertaining as well.In fact, to the extent that the educational value requires use of thetoy over extended periods of time, it must be entertaining or have someother ingredient that encourages its continued and prolonged use.

It is an object of this invention to provide a toy whose use doesdevelop manual skills, mechanical judgment, imagination, and creativityand which a large proportion of children will consider to beentertaining and enjoyable. A related object is to provide a toy whichwill be attractive to children whose age falls within a relatively widerange of ages.

Other objects of the invention include the provision of a toy for whichtooling costs are minimum, which can be manufactured and packaged atrelatively low cost with minimum capital expenditure, which is entirelysafe both to manufacture and to use, has reasonable longevity, whose useis readily understood, and which is not subject to catastrophic failurewhereby its usefulness continues despite damage and deterioration.

Certain of these and other objects and advantages of the invention whichwill hereinafter appear are realized in part by the provision of a toywhich includes a flexible track and a spherical ball mounted for rollingmovement along the track; the track comprising a pair of rails separateda uniform distance apart along their length and joined by aninterconnecting member which is flexible in the direction of itsthickness and relatively less flexible than the rails in the directionof its width and length, at least one of said interconnecting member andsaid rails being resilient; the ball having diameter sufficiently greatto confine its rolling contact to the rail faces at one side of thetrack and to preclude rolling contact with the interconnecting member.

The embodiment of the invention selected for illustration in thedrawings, and for detailed description in the specification,incorporates these structural features. The track may be twisted andturned up, down, to one side and to the other. It can be banked or notbanked around turns as desired and it is generally arranged so that thechild using the toy has wide latitude in the placement and thearrangement of the track. Despite the fact that this latitude ispermitted, the track is arranged relative to the ball so that the twoare associated in the same way throughout the length of the track exceptwhen the ball is caused to leave the track because it has beenimproperly banked or otherwise arranged so that one of the laws ofdynamics has been violated. The track is arranged so that the spacingbetween the rails is unifonn and the spacing is selected so that theball contacts the track at only two points, one point on each rail. Inthis arrangement the center of gravity of the ball is necessarily abovethe line connecting the points at which the ball engages the tracks. Thestability of the ball and track system is a function of the distancebetween that line and the center of gravity of the ball and of thedensity of the ball. In preferred form the ball comprises a glass marbleso that in practice the stability of the toy (and so the age group forwhich it is suitable) depends upon the relationship between the balldiameter and track spacing. Advantageously, the center of gravity iswell above the line connecting the points of track engagement so thatthe ball will leave the track relatively easily. This arrangementinsures that substantial banking is required at the curves at easilyrealizable ball velocities along the track whereby the magnitude oftangential forces and their relationship to velocity will be readilyapparent. The toy constitutes a learning tool and presents interestretaining challenge only when the ball leaves the track or obviouslyalmost leaves it. The track has all the flexibility required so that thechild can take corrective action in any degree from too little to toomuch. In this connection it is one of the objects of the invention toprovide a toy which provides the advantages and the appeal of a ball andtrack class of toy without limiting the child to any specific predefinedstructural arrangements.

In the drawings:

FIG. I is an isometric view of a toy embodying the invention andcomprising a length oftrack upon which a ball is mounted for movementalong the track;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken transversely through the track online 22 of FIG. I showing the ball in elevation and mounted on thetrack;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken laterally through one rail of thetrack of FIGS. 1 and 2 showing the condition of the rail with theconnecting member removed; and

FIG. 8 is a view in top elevation of one curved section of track.

Referring to FIG. I of the drawings, the toy comprises a pair of tracksl0 and 12 connected by an elongate connecting member generallydesignated 13 and which in this embodiment comprises a series ofconnecting members laid end to end between the rails 10 and 12 from oneend of the track to the other. One end of the track is labeled with thenumeral 14 for identification and is elevated on a block 15. Except thatthe end 14 is elevated, the track is shown on a horizontal surfacealthough it twists and turns from side to side along its length.Advantageously, the weight of the track is sufficient, and the degree ofits frictional engagement with the surface on which it rests issufficient, so that the track will lie in that position, and in avariety of other positions with other turns and twists, in which it mayhave been placed by the user. Both rails are made very flexible so thatthey may be easily turned and redirected from side to side or up anddown. The connecting member advantageously is flexible in the directionof its thickness, which direction of flexing is illustrated by arrowsA-A in FIG. 2, so that the track is easily directed up and down. But,the connecting member is made relatively less flexible in the directionof its length, as shown by arrows B-B in FIG. 2, so that the individualrails will not be displaced lengthwise of the connecting membersignificantly from their original position. The connecting member isrelatively less flexible in the direction of its width, as shown byarrows C-C in FIG. 4, to the end that the spacing between rails remainsuniform and so that the rail will be caused to tilt or bank when thetrack is curved in the plane of its rails.

In the preferred form of the invention, either the rails or theconnecting member or both are made resilient in small degree. Thisquality in the materials of which the track is made provides a number ofadvantages including that the slope of the track, when it is arranged atdifferent elevations, will be more gentle and the curves longer with aminimum supporting structure.

In the preferred form of the invention the connecting structure 13 ismade detachable from the rails. A paper material, such as cardboard orbristolboard, is entirely suitable as are various pliable, andadvantageously slightly resilient, dense plastic and other fibrous sheetmaterials. The connecting section l3 may be fonned of a number oflengths of connecting members arranged end to end so that theirjunctions occur at points other than the junction between successivesections of track rail if the rail is also divided into sections. Theconnecting sections may be formed with parallel edges and if all of themare so formed, the track will normally lie straight. If it is curved itwill bank. In this form most of the objectives relating to the provisionof an educational device which children will find enjoyable will berealized. Advantageously, however, some of the connecting sections willbe curved along their length as are the sections 17 and 19 in FIG. 1.The remaining sections numbered 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 have paralleledges and are straight sections. That the track is curved in the regionof sections 22, 23 and 24 is made possible, and is accounted for, by thefact that the track sections are banked with the outside rail liftedaway from the horizontal.

The track rails may be sectioned if desired but advantageously areformed of a single length of pliable plastic material having relativelysmall resilience. The rails may be extruded in pieces of any length andthere is no need to cut them into shorter lengths unless it is desiredto make the problem of track assembly more difficult. An example of asegmented track and connecting section construction is illustrated inFlG. 4. The connection member 26 in FIG. 4 is curved and is mountedbetween rail sections 27 and 28 which are of substantially equal lengthand mounted on opposite edges of the connecting section such that theleft end 29 of rail 27 extends beyond the left end 30 of the connectingsection 26 whereas the left end 31 of the other rail 28 ends short ofend 30 of the connecting section. At the other end of the track sectionof FIG. 4, the right end 32 of the rail section 27 ends short of end 33of the connecting section 26 but right end 3 t of rail section 28extends beyond the right end of the interconnecting section 26. Thisarrangement permits assembly of a series of track sections so that therails of one section overlap the connecting portions of adjacent tracksections.

The ball, which is designated by the numeral 36 in FIG. 1, is mountedupon the track and one plays with the game by rolling the ball along thetrack. The ball can be set in motion by placing it on a section of trackthat extends downwardly, as does section 21, or simply by pushing italong the track to start it rolling. No specific rules, no predeterminednumber of players and no predetermined circumstances are required inplaying with the toy. Essentially the child using it simply conducts aseries of experiments in which he moves the ball along the track andobserves its progress in view of such variables as speed and track shapeand curve banking that he has adjusted.

In FIG. 2, the ball 36 has its center of gravity at its geometricalcenter which is well above the construction line 38 drawn between thepoints 40 and 42 at which the ball contacts the rails and 12 of thetrack. The distance from the construction line 38 to the center ofgravity varies as a function of ball diameter relative to the spacingbetween the track rails. The rails may have any of a variety ofcross-sectional shapes. They are arranged so that the connecting member13 which extends between them lies below the lowest point of the balland is not contacted by the ball as it proceeds along the track.Advantageously, the rails have a cross-sectional shape which insuressubstantially the same degree of flexibility in the vertical as well asin the transverse direction. Moreover it is preferred that the bottom ofthe rails be made flat so that a larger surface is available forfrictional engagement with the surface on which the track is laid. Theamount of friction required is a function of the degree of resilience inthe track. An adequate friction surface is required so that'the trackwill remain fixed in the position in which it is placed even though thetrack is twisted and curved. I

As hereinbefore indicated, in the preferred form of the invention therails are readily removed from the connecting member and in thepreferred embodiment the connecting member is formed of a difi'erentmaterial than are the rails. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 through4, the rails are pro vided with a groove extending throughout theirlength and opening at one side of the rail. The groove is formed so thatits side walls are substantially parallel with the bottom of the railand the groove is almost as deep as the rail is wide. This form of theinvention the rail is formed with an internal bias tending to pinch thegroove closed. This is readily accomplished by arranging the tooling toform a wedge-shaped groove as the rail is extruded. After extrusion thegroove may be pried open to wall 52 thereof as shown in FIG. 3 isnormally urged toward the lower wall 48 and IS prestressed to engagesuch lower wall when no insert 13 is there between. Incorporation ofthis prestress feature in the rail makes it possible to use connectingmembers of varying thickness. Also, it enables the youngster to cut outconnecting sections of his own design to replace lost or damagedconnecting sections or to fonn new curved sections without need toselect a material of exactly correct thickness.

Although I have shown and described certain specific embodiments of myinvention, I am fully aware that many modifications thereof arepossible. My invention therefore is not to be restricted except insofaras is necessitated by the prior art and by the spirit of the appendedclaims.

lclaim:

l. A toy comprising in combination a flexible track and a spherical ballfor rolling along said track; said track comprising:

a pair of rails separated a uniform distance apart along their lengthand joined by an interconnecting member which is flexible in thedirection of its thickness and relatively less flexible than the railsin the direction of its width and length, one of said interconnectingmembers and said rails being resilient, each of said rails being fonnedwith an elongate slot of width to accommodate said interconnectingmember in frictional engagement with the walls of the slot, said railshaving an internal bias tending to urge the slot walls together to closethe slot, the ball having a diameter sufficiently great to confine itsrolling contact to the rails to preclude rolling contact with theinterconnecting member.

2. A toy comprising in combination:

a flexible track and a spherical ball for rolling along said track;

said track comprising a pair of rails separated a uniform distance apartalong their length and joined by an interconnecting member which isflexible in the direction of its thickness and relatively less flexiblethan the rails in the direction of its width and length, said railsbeing formed independently of said interconnecting member of a plasticmaterial and having resilience and flexibility in one radial directioncorresponding substantially to the resilience and flexibility in allother radial directions, each of said rails also being formed with anelongate slot opening at the outer wall of the rail and extending in anonradial plane, said slot having width to accommodate theinterconnecting member in frictional engagement within the walls of theslot, and the ball having a diameter sufiiciently great to confine itsrolling contact to the rails and to preclude rolling contact with theinterconnecting member.

3. The invention defined in claim 2 in which the interconnecting memberis formed of paperboard and the rails have an internal bias tending tourge the slot walls together to engage the paperboard.

